Kantai Collection: KanColle

The concept of using shipgirls equipped with weapons from the Second World War to combat sea monsters is a novel idea that I personally found interesting. The unique aspect of these shipgirls is that each of them represents a warship model from a different country, which is particularly fascinating to me as a fan of WWII warships, and more specifically, IJN warships. However, it is worth noting that the fate of each ship is not always a desirable one. The plot of the anime is also noteworthy. I recall an episode that highlights how the Akagi aircraft carrier required a significant amount of oil for fuel, and in the anime, the girl who represents the Akagi aircraft carrier is portrayed as consuming large quantities of food. Although this portrayal is historically accurate, it is presented in a different manner. Additionally, I appreciated how the first episode introduced the oxygen-torpedo as their trump card, which is not visible on the surface and leaves no trace. This depiction is also accurate, albeit represented differently. The graphics of the anime are visually appealing, and the music is undoubtedly its best feature. The composition of the music for each episode and critical scenes is brilliant, and the tone fits the mood perfectly. However, I found myself disappointed with the direction the anime took after the third episode. The IJN ships were supposed to meet their historical fate of being drawn to the sea. Instead, the show deviated from historical accuracy and took a strange, alternative direction. I had hoped to see hard-fought battles in each episode, with one ship sinking per episode and the IJN fleet suffering losses and misfortune. Overall, the anime was entertaining; however, the divergence from historical accuracy was disconcerting.

1. I can count the ships that strike my heart(read: PP) with my hands. Best two words to describe the arts are "Potato Farm". 2. The story is pretty much "Japan is innocent hurr durr" "Nippon da best", not sticking to what they did in ww2, knowing much that they based all the story points from real ww2 events. 3. Character wise, similar to art, i can only sympathize or "click" with few, since they keep forcing the idea that they, the characters, met miserable ends innocently. This is so BS (Sorry to my few girls that i like there, namely Akagi, Kaga, Shimakaze, Hamakaze). 4. Have i talked about how this almost feel like a propaganda? About how they changed the atrocities that Japan did in ww2 with innocent cute moments? Dont get me wrong, i love the country as it is now, but back then? Not so much. Okay i'll stop dissing this anime and actually bring out the good part. What is it? The musics man! That OP is lit. I keep trying to not remember the OP is KC's when i listen to it. Also, the girls that actually looks good and are good character, are really fun and nice to watch. Sadly i have more fingers than them.

I shall preface this review by stating the fact that I have not played KanColle, and have extremely poor knowledge of World War II era planes, as well as events during the Pacific Theatre of that war, and this may have potentially detracted from my experience, but I digress. KanColle is a SoL about the browser game of the same name, involving a group of anthropomorphised Japanese WWII-era warships who must fight against some alien creatures. The story for the most part takes place from the perspective of Fubuki, who is not as skilled as her comrades, but is determined to improve herself, largely out of admiration for Akagi. However, here lays one of KanColle's predominant shortcomings - there is a very large cast of characters and it is safe to assume a player of the game would like to see their favourite ship in action, but this is the problem. When you've got 12 episodes, and a very large cast of characters, the end result is a small amount of characters who retain a large amount of screentime, whereas the rest see next to none, and this is quite problematic due to the fact it often becomes a bit of a jumbled mess of characters, none of which the viewer comes to particularly care about. Additionally, the characters that are given significant screentime aren't the most in-depth either, with the show often relying on simple catchphrases and uninteresting formulaic quirks, rather than anything particularly substantial. I can't really think of anything major about any of the characters, beyond Kongou speaking in Engrish a lot and Yuudachi ending all her sentences with 'poi'. But this isn't all KanColle rests on, it's a story of two halves - the moe and character interactions, but also the action, so how does the action fare? All things considered, I'd say quite well. The show does make considerable usage of CGI (which I found less intrusive than I normally do, I theorise due to the fact all the fighting takes place in water, so it doesn't look as out of place). The action isn't anything to write home about, it's serviceable, but also a bit forgettable, and I'd say this could apply to the entirety of KanColle. It's not bad by any means, but it's just all too average to really keep you excited or emotionally invested or anything. Oddly enough, the finale, which should be expected to be the strongest episode, I'd wager to be the weakest. Climaxing with a recreation of the Battle of Midway, no doubt the most important battle for the IJN or Japan as a whole during the war, it was all a bit underwhelming. You really don't get a strong feel for the huge scale of the battle, and I'm not going to critique the lack of historical accuracy, as ultimately the only thing KanColle has in common with actual naval battles of WW2 are the names of the ships, but it just seemed an awfully poor missed opportunity. It's just so commonplace for any action series to have a huge battle at the end, wherein the main character(s) emerge victorious and celebrate, but it hardly felt any different to the minor skirmishes they'd engaged in beforehand. The film, titled KanColle: The Movie, is unfortunately more of the same. Perhaps a little more organised than the anime in terms of usage of characters (i.e. who gets placed in, and when) and more action-oriented than the original, but it too isn't anything special. All in all, KanColle's just average. I'd say that whatever it is you want to see, you've probably got a stronger alternative, but if it does look as though it appeals to you, then you'll most likely get what it is you expect, if you are who I presume the main target audience for this to be, and players of the game, and just want to see your favourite ship in animated form, then I think it's good enough, you'll get what you want. But for everyone else, it's not got much of a saving grace.

My first ever review on MAL goes to my favorite fandom to be a part of. This is not just a review of the Kancolle anime, but Kantai Collection as a franchise, because in order to understand why the anime is good, you must understand Kancolle in its entirety. Don't worry- Ill be sure to explain everything and how it pertains to the anime. I hope to those who read this it will allow you to look over all the hate this anime receives and understand why it can be a good show. First, a preliminary. If you don't know, Kantai Collection (Kancolle) is based off of a Japanese web browser game of the same name where anthropomorphic WWll era warship girls (called Kanmusu) are the main cast. The game was launched in 2013, and has had an extremely large following since then, growing to over 3 million players. The game is solely based on micromanagement of your fleet in attacking bots, PVP, and going on expeditions. The game has no strategic gameplay, and focuses heavily on RNG. The reason why this anime receives so much unwanted hate is simple: it is a show for the fans and playerbase of Kantai Collection. Kancolle is only available to play in Japan and it would make sense why almost no one in any other part of the world likes the anime. There are some like me who have done the necessary requirements to be able to play the game outside of Japan, and as an avid player and follower of the fanbase I realize this anime would look like something that was haphazardly thrown together. It is extremely surprising that they would actually do a dub for the show, as most of Kancolle's players are situated in Japan. To a dedicated Kantai Collection player however, this anime is a godsend to the fanbase in so many areas. Lets begin with the game, and why it makes the anime so good. As stated before, there is almost no gameplay in Kancolle. The majority of the fun comes from collecting the over 150 fleet girls. As an admiral, the best part of the game is collecting my ship girls and getting to know each and every one of them. Yes- each ship girl has their own personality. Though some are generic anime stereotypes, it is still fun and exciting to meet the many girls and witness their characteristics and varying personalities. Every admiral grows attached to their shipgirls, and the game even allows marriage to them. When watching the anime, we are finally able to see our favorite shipgirls and theyre personalities in action, from Naka's mini concert to Kongou's burning love, and even to Sendai's spastic love for night battles. After interacting with the girls for so long on a computer screen, it would make sense that longtime fans would be in an uproar over seeing their favorite characters and how they act on TV. One of the best things I commend Kancolle for is the fact that they gave all the original shipgirls in the game a cameo in the anime. Whether it be as a main character, a character in a battle, or someone in the background, every original shipgirl was in the anime. It is very nice to see that Diomedea was able to give the luxury of seeing all the characters the players have grown attached to in the show. Next is the artstyle. Kancolle's artstyle varies heavily due to the many artists employed. Some of the characters who were released at the start of the game have VERY low quality artstyles compared to characters that come later on. Fubuki, Akagi, and Kaga are prime examples of this. They're artstyle is amazing in the anime compared to how they look in the game. Much more detailed hair, eyes and features are much more clearer than on the game, making the characters really appeal to those who care very much for their ship girls. Even characters whose artstyles aren't that bad look amazing in the anime, such as Nagato and Mutsu. The story of this anime can be seen to most people as quite lacking, though this is far from the case. The anime puts context to the game. When beginning the game, you are literally thrown in without having any context of what is happening AT ALL. I believe without a doubt almost all of the people who have scored low for this anime and given it bad reviews are regarding it solely as a military anime. This is not true. As Kancolle grew, it became widespread in many areas, including manga, light novels, and such. Though the game focuses solely on combat, most other media like the manga make the franchise out to look like a slice of life. This is the missing part that most people forget. Kancolle should be regarded as both a Military AND a Slice of Life. The manga and other media tell the tales of the girls at the naval base- doing their own things, interacting with each other and the admiral, playing, and having fun. Those who say that the anime "doesn't have enough battle scenes" don't recognize that Kancolle is not just a mecha musume anymore, but a slice of life about the naval base as well. For example, the Fubuki Ganbarimasu! manga tells of the training the new shipgirls undergo when they reach the naval base. This is the plot of the beginning of the story for her, a part that many find boring. Finally, the anime caters to the player fan base with many small nuances. Almost everything from the game is present in the anime, from one time use items, to character poses resembling their damage states, to the formations. Its the small things that the players notice that make the anime enjoyable. So in retrospect, this anime does not deserve the hate it has been receiving. If you get the chance, look at game play, read the manga, get invested into the Kantai Collection franchise for a couple of days before diving in, because instead of falling in love with the characters and such during the anime, being to like them beforehand, so you can really see how the game and manga influenced everything that happens in the anime. The biggest problem is that everyone is judging the show because they have no idea what is happening.

First time I watched this, I dropped it after first episode. Mainly because of bad presentation of the anime, and "bad" CGI. But then I bought a mouse pad from eBay, which was apparently from Kantai Collection: KanColle, so I decided to watch the whole anime. The CGI is bad at first, but then they make it up, in a way that they change between CGI and normal when on the sea. The story was decent because there was not much drama, or build up. No humanly interaction with the enemy and not much information about them either. It's one of those 100% girls anime, and because of that, it doesn't make a clear contrast between being rude and nice. I think the whole idea behind this series is funny. It's cool to go outside the box (not being total mainstream), but still lack a few unanswered questions. Art was good (Except CGI sometimes), sound was as expected, enjoyment is decent and overall being a decent anime in my experience.

Kantai Collection is kind of anime that you want to watch but not for twice or more. The concept was so good, WWII ship transformed into girls, fought for the sea freedom. Actuallly i like that idea, if they can do it with more consistent. If you want to watch for history lesson, maybe it can be wrong choice. The story was ... little random. It can be so dark, but overall this anime serve better as slice of life story than act as action anime. You have many unique character, and it can give audience more interest. Action ? it can be good, but in other hand, can be really bad. Also, this anime have little narrative about who they are and who they against. It make some people became confused to watch it. Art was great, and become positive side about this anime. Art was consistent (for me) until end although that animation quality still arguably. Sound was ... decent. I like OP and ED song, especially that ED song. For BGM ? Sorry, i'm not interest at all. Character was good. They are entertaining and become strong point of this anime. Maybe, you can argue about the MC, but she's doing her best even she just a destroyer ship. Other character was good too, and you maybe end with play the game to find another lovable character. Overall, i'm enjoyed this anime. Despite that last episode, this anime was so good. Character and art is the strong point for this anime, and maybe you can find some interest for history of the ships in this anime.

(DEWAYNE’S NOTES: JUST A QUICK AND KINDA BAD REVIEW BECAUSE THIS SHOW DOESN’T GIVE ME MUCH TO SAY. I JUST HAD TO WRITE BECAUSE WRITING IS ALL I DO AT COLLEGE AND NOT EXPRESSING MY OPINION DRIVES ME INSANE. ALSO I HAVE NOT PLAYED THE GAME, SO DON’T HASSLE ABOUT THAT.) We all know that cute girls doing cute things has pretty much been consistently popular in anime since Kyoto Animation made it their selling point back in the mid 2000’s. Now I shall shamelessly admit that I love this genre as much as the next guy, but there has been a longstanding sentiment that people are starting to get tired of it. So that’s why it seems like there has emerged a reactionary subgenre of cute girls doing decidedly uncute things. Whether it Gen Urobuchi mercilessly killing magical girls in Madoka magica or moeblobs in MUTHAFUCKIN TANKS in Girls und panzer, it seems the optimal way to refresh the formula was to take it to the EXTREME for all the jaded otaku tired of seeing girls drinking tea and/or crying with planet sized eyes. I imagine it is such a subgenre that led to the creation of today’s subject, Kantai Collection(or Kancolle). Adapted from a game that was apparently very popular and produced by an animation studio only really known for the highly controversial Kodomo no Jikan, Kancolle tells the story of cute girls…. who are also ancient Japanese warships! The show tells us that ‘Fleet girls’ are girls who have been born with the souls of ancient warships, and that they are needed to fight a mysterious race of sea demons called ‘Abyssals’. We follow Fubuki, a destroyer that has recently arrived at a naval base ready to fight. Yeah.. that is actually the premise. This may be where the first problem lies, a game doesn’t really need a believable or even consistent premise, but an anime series does a lot more. Then again, Kancolle, with its mixture of cool fights and comedy, perhaps doesn’t want you to take it that seriously, which is acceptable. The main plot is a mixture of naval action and slice of life elements. This is a combination that I personally adore in a show but I have to question whether it was pulled off effectively here. It moves slowly at first, letting us get to know the characters and mechanics, and following Fubuki as she learns more about her mission and attempts to grow stronger. However, just once it gets up to speed, the show throws filler episodes in the mix, which while entertaining, did not bode well for a 12 episode series. The mix of slice of life and action has to feel natural and not like the creators decided to suddenly switch gears because they thought you were getting bored. This harms the pacing and makes it harder to care about what it going on in the long run. Another thing is that in the show’s downtime, the comedy and character interaction isn’t all up to snuff, meaning you’ll often be wishing for something to happen. When the action scenes do kick into gear, they can be pretty tense, and the stakes are clearly shown, with little plot armor or deus ex machinas being used to cheat their way out of a fight. Despite the fact that we never really learn anything about the abyssals, they are pretty menacing and make for some good fights. When it comes to the drama, the show does make a good effort in attempting to get me to care, but these elements were too lightly spiced onto the mix to be effective. Things like Mutsuki’s arc from episodes 3 and 4 and Akagi’s arc near the end are able to shed some light on the characters and give us some reasons to care about how they fare in their fight against the abyssals, but not enough focus was given to this for it to be a prominent part of the show, as it was diluted by mediocre comedy and boring character interactions. Overall, this leads to a show which is entertaining, but lacks the tools to be truly engaging. The characters are many, and as such I forgot who many of them were. There is Fubuki’s squad, the other squads, the carriers, the higher ups and many more. I will give the show credit in managing to cram so many distinct characters into a measly 12 episodes, but they pay a heavy price for doing so. If you can keep track of these characters, you will pick up a surface level understanding of who they are, but that is exactly ALL you get, never does the show have time to dig any deeper into these ship girls. When the show uses its characters for some good drama(like in episodes 3+4 as I previously mentioned) it can be fairly competent but most of the time it doesn’t bother. This leads to many of the characters being pretty one note and bland. Fubuki is the spunky but shy protagonist who will keep training until senpai notices her, Mutsuki and Yuudachi are just ditzy best friends, Akagi is a wise mentor with a troubled past and Kongou is completely insane. If the show had more time or less characters, maybe this wouldn’t be a problem, but it is as it stands, and a fairly damning one too. The character designs and setting are mostly pretty dull, you can sometimes get confused which characters are which because of the multitude of them present, but the show at least tries to give unique designs to each girl. But hey it's what you expect, long flowing hair, school uniforms(for some reason?) and big moe eyes, but lacking in the originality or distinctness that make good moe designs. The animation is unsurprisingly kept to a minimum for the most part and movement is pretty limited(this is moe, who needs movement?). The exception to this is pretty obviously when the show wants to wow you with its gun porn.. I mean fight scenes. Here they pull out all the smooth water animations, gun animations, torpedo animations and EXTREME WIND BLOWY HAIR MOVEMENT. But this is to be expected from a show of this nature, and its not like it looks Ufotable or Madhouse levels of extreme sakuga usage. Music is pretty chill, but it doesn’t really have anything to compliment apart from the fight scenes. The music for most of the SOL aspects is just your usual light sounding tonky lounge music that usually is meant to compliment the comedy and light tone, which doesn’t work here on account of how boring these scenes are. The music in the fight scenes is of the “let's use an orchestra to be all dramatic” variety which is a shame because the game has face melting guitar as its battle theme from what I have heard, so why couldn’t we get some of that? The opening is also a fairly dull song, apart from the hilarious misheard lyric of “WANKERRRRRRRRRR” and I don’t even remember the ending so it can’t have been great. One thing I will say is that the voice acting is pretty impressive, mainly because many of the seiyus portray multiple characters, and manage to give them all distinct tones, which in moe is no easy task. They appear to be really TRYING to make the show more funny or dramatic, but sometimes it is the tools, not the workman at fault. In conclusion this show is either a heavily botched game adaptation or just a really boring moe show, it's dull and predictable but I honestly can’t say anything worse about it. You can tell it attempts to be something but ultimately cannot save itself from being nothing, the curse of bad moe shows if you will. Come to think of it, why did I even review this? they say mediocrities are the worst thing for a critic, then I guess that makes me some kind of intellectual masochist.

I can't belive this... They ruined it... It's not even Kadokawa's compane created this anime... Though they has ruined some ogirinal game mechanics. Repair yard: Sauna in anime, but a massive dock factory in actual game. At least they kept green buckets. Characters details: In anime tkanmusu don't carry thier gear on surface, but in game kanmusu do. Though Anime Admiral is typical KanColle weeb. Playing the game because of waifus. Many of KC players do that. They forgot to include fairies from game to anime, they are important part of the game. Graphics: Cause of KanColle was a browser game, it's images was JPEG compressed. Only in this situation anime is winning. Sound: Since it's anime it has no sounds for web and it's not really compressed so much. Overall: It's a poor attempt to create an anime adaptaion for peopls who don't played the actual game. Though construction was never shown in anime. Anime Admiras was typical KC weeb, playing the game to only collect his waifus. Ah also, there is no "Legendary Bauxite" in the game, only generic one. Anime Kngou has a lewd dream about Anime Admiral. That's really werid. Anime served us a total crap whick has minor relation to game. It's better to let Kadokawa to make anime adaptation.

Story 7: Really not that much of a story. It focuses around a girl named Fubuki making friends with other girls in the naval district she joins. The girls then turn into "ww2 ships" and fight with the abyssals aka other ship girls. Art 7: All of the characters are designed well. The only bad art is the abyssal enemy ship girls that look like fish girls that have cannons on them. The CGI is noticeable but its only during the battles but its not to terrible. Sound 10: Music is amazing Characters 8: Each girl is different and has their own personalities. Each one has their own responsibility at the district such as being a teacher, training for battle and managing the girls and the district. They also have their own special abilities in battle because each one is a different ship such as Fubuki being a destroyer, Akagi being an aircraft carrier, Kongo being a battleship, Atago being a heavy cruiser, and Kuma being a light cruiser just to name a few of them. Enjoyment 8: Everything about this is enjoyable besides the CGI effects. Its a really good slice of life anime with a military theme to say, but even though there's a war they didn't try to kill of any of the girls. Its a watch in my book

I haven't played the game when I watched this anime, of course I know this anime was adapted from a browser game(then after 2 monthes I have been playing the game). I wrote this review for those who basically not play the game and newcomer who want to know what moefication is. This anime performing ship girls (kanmusu) that fight against their enemy called Abbysal fleet. Ship girls are moefication character that adapted from World War II warships, especially form Imperial Japanese Navy. When first time I watched this anime, I didnt even understand what kind of anime is this. Some girls fight against monster on the sea. But then I realize that this is a slice of life anime that focus on a new special type destroyer(moefication version of course) that join on a naval base, while she is never join a battle. The character development is some kind of point of interest here, where an unskilled ship girl what to become just like her friends. She kept training every day, hoping some day she can fight in the same fleet with her admired seniors. So you can enjoy a lot of motivative quotes from this anime, then change your view, maybe. One that I didnt understand when first time watched this anime is... WHO THE HELL WAS THE ADMIRAL? In this anime the admiral's face not shown and we wont know if the admiral is male or female. Then after I played the game, I know the admiral was WE. Yes, we whom organized the naval base in the game. This anime used 2 kind of animation, 2D and 3D animation. 3D animation used for the battle scenes, and the other just like anime in general. I belive many people love the opening song and so do I. MIIRO by Akino from bless4 was very macth the concept of this anime, the the ending song, Fubuki by Shiena Nishizawa, if you search for the lyrics you'll find that its contain the names of Fubuki-class destroyer. The story wasnt highlighted here. Overall maybe for those who have played the game before they would be upset. But for who not play the game yet, you will learn many kind of motive for your life that maybe good for you

You know this anime is good when you haven't played the game When I first hear about the anime adaptation, I was wondering: They didn't even make a single story in the game, how will the anime turn out? I expected nothing and I'm still let down, I mean WTF It's just another stereotype anime with moe girls trying moe thing and then climax in episode 3 and then back to normal by making that sad one say it all out and then a force funny episode and then a fan-service episode and then we're moving on to the real climax, the final battle where somehow the main character will have a sudden realization that help save the whole fucking team BRAVADO But somehow I watch the whole series hoping for a nice plot but in the end, it doesn't even matter because it's just another kuso teitoku who chose P2W in the final episode

Creating a story out of nothing is never easy, but that isn't an excuse to try everything at once. Kantai Collection tries to do too many things at once and ended up with nothing. It's like the idiom, Jack of all trade but master of none. Kancolle tried to tackle multiple genre but succeeded in none. [[Note: Spoilers might be included]] Personal rant below Kantai Collection, or Kancolle for short, is an attempt by a company to create an anime out of a game just like Hollywood creating Dragonball Z out of Dragonball. An attempt to make something that is "original" yet "fun" but ended up failing at both. The problem is that Kantai Collection tried too hard to do everything. I am speaking this from someone who plays the game, this anime is horrible if it is trying to teach a person about a game. This isn't like Pokemon, where the earlier episodes managed to tell you what the Pokemon is along with its mechanics. If they are trying to explain about the game, they'll need to make the anime more "militaristic" as that's what Kancolle is: A spreadsheet simulation with naval battle theme. Or at least try and explain, even if it's crazy (e.g. Bucket bath), some mechanics in the game. Kancolle didn't do any. The story clearly shows that the directors don't know what path they want the anime to go with. It's like watching an indecisive kid. It has a mix between slice-of-life and comedy with an underlying "seriousness" smashed into each episode somewhere near the end just to try and remind the viewers that the story is still serious. Now comes the part that is probably the reason why they continue watching Kancolle: CHARACTERS. Oh boy! Look at all these waifus you can get. But jokes aside, these characters and set-up are a mess. You have the main character that seems to always get the center-of-attention and get out of trouble (Fubuki), the comic relief (Yuudachi), and the try-to-be-serious-but-isn't (Mutsuk). Kitakami and Ooi are only there for daily lesbian service and all other characters are forgettable. How forgettable you might ask? Enough that they added another character at the end and you don't even know who.

I began to watch KanColle when it was airing, and then dropped it until it was fully released. I decided to do a review of the anime as a stand-alone media type, or rather a perspective from a first time viewer with very little knowledge of the game. As a standalone anime it is fairly mediocre but still entertaining, like Strike Witches, Girls und Panzer, and Sky Girls, this anime attempts to mix moe girls with machines drawing fairly niche audiences and rampant skepticism from onlookers. It has several major downsides however, which makes this anime more niche than usual and directed toward players of the game. Firstly the large cast of characters can be difficult to follow, especially since there is no singular naval uniform or main cast (aside from Fubuki and her roomies). I feel the scenes with the main character interacting with most of the fleet were a little unnecessary, or at least should have had cute introductory captions for each character introduced to Fubuki (see the Negima anime by Shaft). Over the show you come to grow attached to characters, so it doesn't feel lacking in main character development, but certain groups of ship girls are recurring on-screen without proper introduction or screen time (like the Heavy Cruisers, you know that one blonde one with enormous... guns..). The second major problem lies in the 3D graphics as well as the visual inconsistencies in the anime. Let's be real here, the 3D looks atrocious next to the hand-drawn anime, and was much less noticeable in Girls und Panzer, and was completely accepted in Expelled from Paradise (which is all 3D so you just gotta suck it up) but in KanColle it's easily noticed and looks like it was made in MMD. They could have easily come out with an OVA with amazing battle graphics, but instead went for the 12 episode with okay graphics. My final complaint is a nitpicky one about the anime continuity, which could probably be easily explained in the game, but again this review is from the viewpoint of the anime as standalone content. This part contains --spoilers-- The equipping of the ships is seen as purely mechanical, except for the few times when it's not? Example, when Akagi equips and then her arrows magically appear in her quiver. Or when Fubuki is trying to get Yamato in the water and all of a sudden she is wearing her rigging. Or, when Nagato joins the battle in her rigging only and suddenly she has her full guns? Small things like these just don't make sense when they make a big point of the girls getting ready with the assistance of machines. Strike Witches also had the magical and mechanical element, but it was very clear what both elements could do. --end spoilers-- On the whole, this is another mediocre anime that is still entertaining enough to watch the whole way through, but if they wanted to make it more open to non-game players they should have reduced the cast and clarified the world better. If they only wanted it for the niche players, they really should have just gone all out and done the beach training episodes and justify to themselves moe ships.

My shipfu is the best shipfu. 'Not Hoteru, Hoteeeel' It is one the anime that make girls better and more likable in the men's eyes. It has both plenty of diverse waifu material as well as rather interesting plot with battles and such. Other than that, has a little bit of everything: slice of life mixed with action and character development. It never gets samey. On somewhat negative note is perhaps choice of the main three characters. Fubuki is kind of nothing too special. Yuudachi only has Poi gimmick going for her and gets less likable after remodeling. I do not like Mitsuki at all. If not for that I would have given it 8. Main trio is not that important overall though. Show gives plenty of development and screen time to other shipfus so you will likely find one or several ones to you liking. It has nice and kind Haruna, Haguro and Jintsu as well as sexy dressed Shimakaze. Destroyer group 6 are also nice and get 1 full episode dedicated to them among other things. Overall it is not perfect, but certainly decent and entertaining enough show, that I can recommend to anyone.

Imagine if Germany made a world war 2 show/cartoon showing showing the Nazis as the good guys and the allies as faceless monsters. That is essentially what happens in this anime. In world war 2 Japan commited genocide and war crimes on the same scale as the Nazis (look up korean comfort women, the rape of nanjing, unit 731 for more details). It shows the ships as cute anime girls that are trying to stop the monsters from attacking their homeland, completely glossing over that the war in the pacific was a war that Japan started and the huge amount of war crimes they were committing in the process. Alternative history can be fun for a story telling device but this is not the way to go about it, the man in the high castle is a much better way of showing alternative history as they don't shy away from the genocide and somehow still manage to make a Nazi somewhat sympathetic. Spoilers for the ending: The final battle is clearly meant to be a retelling of the battle at midway in which America defeated Japan in a naval battle so resoundingly, that the war was then unwinable for Japan at that point on. This battle happened in US territory as the Japanese were attacking but in the show is portrayed as the Japanese defending themselves and in the end they have the US lose. The entire anime just seems to be some kind of jingoistic wish fulfillment instead of an attempt to write a compelling story.

tl;dr great characters cannot save a shallow and uninspired plot I should preface this with the fact that I have not played the game, but I do understand the mechanics and other concepts. This has spoilers. KanColle has extremely likeable characters, which is probably to be expected from a game that focuses on the likeability of its cast. Cliche at times, but you don't go into this anime looking for anything much more than a slice-of-life. See, that's where the problem lies. There's enough characters and enough interaction that it would have done well as a slice-of-life, or something with a less ambitious plot at the very least. I would've watched a show of MC doing MC things slowly fitting into the community of the base. Instead, the story attempts to be much darker, dealing with a monstrous enemy with the threat of permadeath looming since episode three. And unfortunately, it comes up short. I won't go into the accuracy of the very clearly historically-based events, but I will mention that while ships sinking permanently is part of history and the game itself, there is not enough buildup to make it impactful the viewer, not enough threat to make action sequences truly suspenseful, and simply not enough plot to justify 12 episodes. In attempting an odd mix between slice-of-life and story-based anime, it excels at neither. This despite the likeability of its cast.

Kancolle is probably more a guilty pleasure of mine, to be honest. As a new fan of the game (and occasional Azur Lane player) I still find "War stuff, but moe" quite original (even if it's anything but). I'll make a quick summary of the anime, as I see it personally. Story: 5 Not very good. Jumps around a lot, but kept me interested enough to hang around (though let's face it. The story isn't why we're here). The Abyssals are taking over the world (more specifically the oceans) and it's up to the shipgirls to stop them. There's a message about fighting fate in there, but that's spoiler territory. Art: 7 Very good blend of all the characters. They all have a cohesive style (unlike the game). CG is pretty jarring in combat, but not too bad (especially when you're used to it). Actual animation deserves an 8, really, but knocking off one for the mid-tier CG. Sound: 8 Not a very memorable OST, but the OP and ED are some of my all-time favourites. The actual SFX are surprisingly good, and can keep you engaged in longer battles. The VAs did very good jobs - I was able to feel the emotion they tried to convey very well and apparently some of them voiced lots of characters. I never noticed, so kudos to those VAs especially! Character: 6 Obviously not much time to make good on most of them, but the ones who do get development get enough to cause at least a bit of emotion (I found myself with a smile on my face for lots of the show, but that's more the SoL that does that). The cast is quite simple yet diverse, and I think it works well in this show. I'd give it a 7, personally. I just really don't like how much of a self-insert the Admiral is (he never talks, nor appears on screen). He knocks one off, because of how damn unnatural it is. Enjoyment: 9 If there's one good thing about Kancolle, it's that Cute Girls Doing Cute Things is always something I can get behind. The curry episode (total filler, don't worry) was a bit much for me with how jarring it was from the story, and the *goddamn admiral* exists, but besides that I really enjoyed the antics of the diverse cast. Overall: 8 It's a good show. Not a masterpiece, but I'd recommend it to someone fairly new to the medium (not so new as to find basic fanservice strange though. If I recall correctly this show has quite a bit, but not as much as other similar shows). Lots of the reviews on this anime are very critical, and while criticism is a good thing, I wanted to throw my own thoughts out there (because really, I think this anime should be rated like, 7.5. Even accounting for my own bias). I hope you take the time to give it a shot - it's not great but it's good enough to waste some time (and maybe find a favourite shipgirl. Who knows?)

For an anime based on a free-to-play browser game this is honestly rather well put together, mostly competent and coherent. Personifying historical Imperial Japanese Navy ships into eccentric and colorful anime girls might seem like just another anime-ification cash grab, and well okay it is, but both the original game and this anime exude a certain nongeneric charm that is unique to this IP. There is a subtle genius in the way it is all put together that you never feel that this is an entirely soulless or cynical affair - there is personality here and I think that counts for a lot. There definitely isn't anything groundbreaking here but it is also clear that that's not what this anime was setting out to achieve in any case. The original source material this anime is based off of is itself extremely thin on lore and backstory. Do not expect this world to be fully fleshed out or explained. The abyssals (the enemy/antagonists in this show) have zero characterization and if I recall only a literal handful of dialogue lines over all 12 episodes. They are more akin to a pest or infestation that the ship girls are tasked to confront and defeat than any kind of thinking, living and breathing opposing force in a military conflict. But the abyssals don't really matter in that you're not supposed to be preoccupied with them all that much, or ask where they came from or why they are doing what they're doing. The game and specifically this anime are rather unapologetic about the fact that the enemy here serves merely as a plot device to give the ship girls something to shoot at and fight against and to provide a backdrop upon which to tell interesting character-driven stories. There has been some speculation that the abyssals are intended to serve as dehumanized stand-ins for the United States Navy and are inserted in such a way as to act out a revisionist fantasy in which Japan wins the Second World War. This interpretation is unconvincing for a number of reasons not least of which is the fact that the game this anime is based on and draws all of its lore and ideas from later added American ship girls based on vintage US Navy ships of the same period, along with ship girls from other nations that participated in that conflict, foes and allies of Japan alike. In the game all of these ship girls, regardless of national allegiances during WWII, can be recruited to together fight against the abyssals. I think that at times those outside of Japan go a little too far out of their way to read into Japanese media what they believe to be thinly concealed Japanese military chauvinism where in reality is more often simply Japanese earnestness around having an affinity for their own culture and history. While it appears that Japan may still have some unresolved hang-ups concerning their defeat in the Second World War and reconciling that with their culture of honor and the significance of shame and defeat in that context but I don't think this anime or the game it is based on have any sort of pretentions of this nature or any such political message. In fact I will venture to suggest that this IP is going out of its way not to disrespect the US or their WWII allies by instead having a totally fictitious, unrecognizable, almost eldritch enemy for the Japanese ship girls to instead fight against and subsequently destroy. The reason they are all based on Japanese ships is simply because the original game was developed in Japan for release to a Japanese audience. It's possible to have national pride and an interest in your country's history including the assortment of storied warships constructed in the past without glorifying the brutal regime that directed those machines in wars of aggression. That is my interpretation at least and I see the references to the Battle of Midway and other allusions to WWII like the breaking of codes to be nothing more than neat easter eggs and historical tie-ins to wink back at viewers who know their military history. This anime and the IP more broadly are really not reaching that deep and I say that affectionately. This is in no way intended to be a war-opera epic; this is an anime where ship girls blow stuff up, exchange banter, form friendships and share wholesome moments. Kantai Collection is very honest and upfront in this regard and I feel that the more pernicious characterizations of the show as revisionist propaganda are unwarranted. Having briefly played the browser game this anime is based on I can say that Diomedea did a good job tying in both the elements of the game and the tongue-in-cheek references to real-world history and adapting it without having the show devolve into an excess of fan-servicey references or overdone WWII trivia. The characters reference in-game resources like fuel and steel and mechanics like "instant repair buckets" that might seem too silly and absurd for someone who doesn't understand the context of the show being based on a game but these things don't rock the boat enough (pun intended) to otherwise detract from the enjoyment of the series. I have watched all the episodes dubbed and most of the episodes subbed I can say that this is an example where both the sub and the dub totally nailed the casting. Naturally there are some voices where I feel the sub did better and a few where I preferred the dub but overall the characterizations are consistent across both with some standout performances being Nao Touyama as Kongou in the original Japanese or Sarah Wiedenheft as Zuikaku in the dub. One thing I did want to mention was the insistence on Yuudachi using the same "Poi" verbal tick in the dub. The word itself in Japanese means "like" or "ish" and so simply repeating it in the English dub as "Poi" is missing the meaning in translation and doesn't convey quite the same charm as if the character was ending all of the sentences with the word "like", which is how it works in the original Japanese. I feel the localizers either didn't recognize or appreciate their responsibility to authenticity make the verbal tick make sense in spoken English or that they were too worried about being pilloried by the anime community and western KanColle fanbase who at the time this series was dubbed were fully enthralled by the "Poi" memes surrounding this character. My take is that the most vocal, hardcore fans are just going to watch the sub in any case so localizers should worry less about that kind of backlash, real or perceived, and worry more about their job which is to make the dub (all of it) make sense in English. It is not the end of the world by any means but it stood out as a strange choice, especially during the first few episodes until you settle in. The animation is crisp and looks medium/high budget for the most part. The CGI scenes, typically occurring during action sequences, are not all that great but at the same time could be a lot worse given when this was made. For me it's the often clumsy transitions between regular animation and the CGI models that sometimes comes across as choppy and abrupt. The soundtrack in my view punches above its weight in a big way. I really enjoyed the loud and bombastic OP and the collection of varied tracks do a great job setting and shifting the mood of the show and are well synchronized with whatever is happening onscreen. Overall I like this anime. It's a fun, wholesome escape with just the right mix of personality, solid production values and WWII trivia and reaches a satisfying conclusion before it starts to overstay its welcome. The excellent voice over work of either dub really steals the show and exudes so much charisma and charm that together with the original character designs taken from the game make for highly memorable and likeable characters, which are without a doubt the main attraction of this series.

Wow, this is my first review where my quality score is lower than my personal enjoyment score. For the story, I felt it was pretty bland and boring it didn't really impress me too much but what can you expect from a video game anime. The art is fine Id say it was pretty average, nothing special but not bad. The sound wasn't really memorable so pretty average, the characters were fine. I will complain a little about the characters, I think the MC was my least favorite boat girl or one of them at least but a lot of the other ones I liked, also Kongou is the best one. So yeah feel the characters are fine you know it's pretty much a "cute girls so watch this show" kinda anime. In terms of quality, id say this is like a 4 just because the story is pretty below average, and even tho I like the characters I wouldn't really say they are good characters, maybe just more enjoyable ones. My personal enjoyment id rates this at a 5 and that's just because I like the cute girls, other than that the show is pretty bad.